I Am In Hollywood

Eric turned Ned into a successful entrepreneur and hardcore movie fan who liked to collect movie props. Obviously, the multiple epic references to the movie The Lord of the Rings could only be discarded.

After putting the script together, in accordance to their previous agreement, Eric went to find Jeff. Ever since he had read Jura.s.sic Park, Jeff no longer belittled this little friend of his. He earnestly read the script a few times and really did found some inconsistencies like when the protagonist goes back to school wearing a Kevin Federline t-shirt, Jeff had to ask Eric who that was. Eric carefully searched through his memory only to realize that Britney Spears" second ex-husband was only a ten-year-old boy this year.

After modifying some bits and pieces that Jeff pointed out, Eric handed over the script to Michael Klaus.

Having wrapped a novel and a screenplay, he was in no hurry to begin working on anything else and instead started to practice basketball. There were a lot of showy moves in the movie and Eric didn"t even know the basics so he had to start from scratch.

With so many basketball scenes, although Zac Efron"s past acting performance wasn"t that great, his stunts were seriously awesome, especially that time in the cafeteria when he taunted that douchebag called Stan.

A week later, after two hours of training in the community"s basketball court, Eric went back home and kept working on his fancy moves when he was interrupted by the loud ringing of the phone. These days Eric had received countless calls from Michael, who kept him up to date in regards to the Jura.s.sic Park publication as well as the 17 Again script. Regarding Jura.s.sic Park, everything went very smoothly, and it was only a matter of time before Eric could see the book, however, went it came to 17 Again, things weren"t looking bright.

Although several companies were interested after reading the script, when they heard of the scriptwriter"s condition of starring in the movie, most of them just straight out rejected the whole ordeal. What a joke, this was an investment of tens of millions of dollars, who would be willing to take such a risk ?

Eric told Michael that he didn"t have to set his sights solely on those six major film companies, he could also try those second-rated ones.

"Hey, you"ve reached the Williams residence." Said Eric after adjusting his breath.

"h.e.l.lo, Eric, it"s Michael."

Eric calmly smiled: "Michael ? It"s almost ten, for you to call me this late at night, I take it you have some good news ?"

Michael couldn"t help but complain on the phone as he said: "Don"t even mention it, you seriously, do you how many times I called you ? You never answered !"

"About that, I"m sorry Michael, I was practicing at the community basketball court."

"Practicing basketball ? Wow Eric, now that"s what I call determined. Well, I do remember the script having a lot of basketball scenes."

"Well yeah, then again I don"t only train at the court, I also practice every morning for an hour in front of the mirror."

"I have to say, I admire you a little, not many people would have your perseverance. Take tomorrow off, we have an appointment."

Eric hands trembled slightly as the basketball that was spinning on his index finger fell to the ground, and after several m.u.f.fled bouncing sounds he finally asked: "This is… good news ?"

"Of course you lucky guy, I received a phone call today from James Brooks of 20th Century Fox, they are very optimistic about the script, and didn"t directly reject your condition, however, you have to take an audition."

"That"s… Thank you, Michael."

"You"re welcome," Michael laughed: "Of course you understand that since the other party has agreed to letting you audition it"s as good as a done deal, well unless your performance completely sucks and in that case, even I"ll feel sorry for you."

"Absolutely not, don"t worry, I"ve been practicing a lot."

Eric was ecstatic the whole night, and drove his car to meet up Michael Klaus at the agreed place the next morning.

"These are the Twentieth Century Fox studios ?" Eric eyed the huge warehouses longingly.

Michael shut his car"s door, walked over and stood next to Eric as he looked up: "Yes it"s very impressive… Ah, but Warner"s are definitely more spectacular than that, you know ? You should take some time to visit them next time."

Eric thought back to some movies produced by Warner and nodded: "I will."

They were both lead by a staff member to an office door, as their guide knocked and followed with a few words, the two of them were ushered inside.

When they saw the two people come in, the two middle-aged individuals in the room, a man and a woman, who were discussing something, stood up to greet them.

Michael Klaus shook hands with them, then introduced: "James, Penny, this is Eric Williams. Eric, Mr. James Brooks is a producer and Mrs. Penny Marshall is a director." After his introduction, Michael smiled at Penny Marshall and said: "You know Penny, a week ago, Eric said to me that you would become the first female director in american history to make it past the hundred million dollars mark at the box office."

Eric first extended his hand to James Brooks, who only lightly shook it before quickly taking it back.

Eric realized that this well-known producer didn"t seem to like him much, it might be because he didn"t like the fact that Eric had claimed the lead role as his own.

Eric didn"t mind as he turned to Penny Marshall, a forty-year-old blonde caucasian woman, while she was also an actress, she was a little chubby, so she probably had it hard when it came to being cast.

"h.e.l.lo, Mrs. Penny, I loved your movie BIG."

"Thank you for your appreciation, Eric." Penny Marshall"s expression didn"t change much when Eric mentioned BIG. The screening was still ongoing and everyone felt that the box office was definitely going to pa.s.s the hundred millions mark as in recent weeks the number of entries hadn"t actually decreased but increased instead. However it was already in it"s fourth week of running, and a lot of movies were being released recently, so it would probably soon die down.

After they had introduced each other, James Brooks, Penny Marshall and Eric started sizing up each other. They would soon have to cooperate together in order to a.s.sure the success of 17 Again. Eric smiled confidently as he sat down next to Michael Klaus on the couch.

A beautiful female a.s.sistant served them coffee before withdrawing from the office.

James Brooks didn"t touch his cup, but instead crossed his hands on the table as he stated: "Mr. Eric… your screenplay is indeed very good, but I have to say, the condition you have brought up is a little… You"re just a highschool student with absolutely no acting experience. So we first wanted to refuse, but Mr. Barry Diller happened to see your script, he liked it very much and personally agreed to your request. Of course you have to take the audition and if you get a pa.s.s, you"ll also have to agree on taking basic acting cla.s.ses for a short period of time."

Eric nodded to express his approval. He was quite surprised though, for Barry Diller to personally approve of his script was unexpected. Who didn"t know Barry Diller ? Even the respective CEO of Disney and Dreamworks, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Michael Eisner, both worked as his a.s.sistants when he was still at Paramount.

Barry Diller had been in Hollywood for more than thirty years. From his rise in Paramount to his prosperous days at Twentieth Century Fox, from the movie industry to the nationwide television networks, he had left his mark behind. When he was lost in his thought, Michael gently nudged him and Eric realized that he was still in James Brooks" office, the latter eyeing him with dissatisfaction.

Since the beginning, James didn"t have any favourable impression of Eric. When it came to filmmaking in Hollywood, everything was decided by the producer, from the casting to the last minute editing. Eric"s condition to be cast as a lead was simply a threat to his authority.

"I"m sorry, I got distracted." Eric quickly apologized.

"Never mind, boy." When it came to speaking to this youngster, James" tone turned firm as he said: "Before we begin discussing anything else, let"s first start with the audition."